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Elderly Athens woman victimized in fake sweepstakes

updated Tuesday, July 1, 2014 - 4:43pm

An 86-year old Athens woman is out $2,000 after being duped into believing she had won $500,000 from “Consumer Clearinghouse,” Athens-Clarke County police said.

The woman reported on Monday that she had received a call three days earlier from a representative of the company informing her of her winnings, police said. But in order to claim the prize, the victim was instructed to send a wire transfer of $2,000 to ensure that she didn’t “skip town” before paying taxes on her winnings, according to police.

The victim said that after wiring the funds from her retirement account, she received another call from the same person stating that another $4,500 was needed, at which time she notified police.